Son Of The Moon: Armada
by Shade Penn
Summary: AU-ish spinoff from SOTM. Slash! When Rad accidently activates a minicon panel, he's forced into a war he didn't want any part of. Now he has to deal with Autobots, and an activist. Rad/Jetfire, Carlos/Alexis
1. Chapter 1

A/N: I own nothing, sadly.

This is an AU my Son Of The Moon story, hence the title. It will also be an AU from the Armada cartoon. Rad will still have a detached personality that makes him hard to get along with. He won't be getting along with Alexis very well since they have different views on certain things-Mainly because Alexis is against hunting and Rad doesn't see anything wrong with it- with Carlos stuck as their peacekeeper.

* * *

1.

Rad moved forward on his elbows along the ground and peered through the bush. He saw a large brown rabbit nibbling on some leaves. Rad sighed intenally. _'Looks like I'm having rabbit for dinner._' he thought and knotched his silver bow with an ordinary arrow. Before he could fire, he heard a twig snap and the rabbit took off. "Damn it!" he swore._'Correction: looks like I'm having rice for dinner.'_

"Who's there?" A male voice squeaked.

Instantly, Rad's bad mood rose, but once he'd registered the squeaky edge in the voice and how young it sounded, he managed to squash most of his anger. Rad rose to his feet as he put his bow and arrow in the same hand. "Me of course." he said as he casually brushed the dirt from his green camouflage shirt and looked over at the kid.

The kid looked about 13-or 14 at best- had a caramel complexion, dark curly hair, and dark eyes. He also had a packback with a skateboard on it. "Who are you?" he asked with a spanish accent.

"Rad." The blond answered as if talking about the weather. "You?"

"Carlos." The dark-haired boy answered. "Er, what are you doing out here?"

"Hunting." Rad replied.

"With a slingshot?" Carlos asked snickering.

Rad glared at him frostily as he looked down at his bow. _'So _that's_ what the Mist makes you look like.' _he thought. "Yes, actually. A better question would be: What are you doing out here?"

"Hiking." Carlos replied.

Rad raised a brow. "Hiking?" he repeated.

Carlos nodded. "I'm going to explore the cave over there." he pointed at the cave entrance at the hill side.

_'Oh no.' _Rad thought seeing as that cave was where his temporary camp. "You can't go up there."

"And why not?" Carlos asked tilting his head to the side.

"Because you have no proper gear." Rad replied keeping a collected face. "Do you seriously intend to go up there with nothing but a skateboard on your backpack?"

With the way Carlos glared at him; that was a yes. "I'll show you!" he said indignantly and stomped off toward the mountain.

Rad shook his head his head before putting his arrow away and changing his bow back into it's cresent moon charm form. _'Hmm, wonder what my swords would look like._' he thought before heading fo his own route up the mountain side.

* * *

Carlos smirked as he made it to the cave entrance. "I made it!" he said triumphantly.

"Well it's about time." A male voice said with apathy.

Carlos looked over at the blond teen in shock. "How'd you get up here so fast?"

"I knew a short cut." Rad replied from where he'd been leaning against the cave wall.

"You knew a short cut?" Carlos repeated as he tredged into the cavern. "You been here before or something?"

"Or something." Rad said quietly as he followed Carlos to make sure the younger teen didn't find his camp site.

As they dredged deeper into the cave, Carlos stepped on a stone plate, and it creaked downwardds and sent them both sliding down into a tunnel while riding on the plate. As Carlos yelled in fear, Rad whooped in joy.

As they reached the end of the tunnel, Rad chuckled lightly. "That was fun!"

Carlos looked at him incredulously. "No it wasn't! It was terrifying!"

Rad rolled his eyes and turned his attention to where he felt a different energy than from the cave. He looked around and found it was coming from a green panel with a slight glow._ 'Hmm, there's energy coming it, I wonder...' _ he thought and touched the panel to pull it out.

The contact with the panel caused a jolt to go through Rad as three lights shot out of the cave ceiling, one green, one red, and one purple. The lights ignited an earthquake and the walls of the cavern shook.

"Lets get out of here, man." Carlos said as Rad stumbled a bit, clutching the green panel to his chest.

Rad glared at him for calling him such a word, but conceded that they needed to get out. "Yes. Lets."


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: I own nothing, sadly.

"Speaking"

_'Thoughts'_

_"Minicon speech"_

_

* * *

_2.

As the two teens made their way out of the cave tunnel, Rad strained his ears to hear faint yells and resisted rolling his eyes or shaking his head. He'd sensed those two "Tag alongs" following Carlos all the way back in the forest, and now it seemed they had gotten into some form of trouble. Oh, well, they'd be fine as long as they didn't piss anything off from where they were.

Once they were outside and down the mountain side, they were met by another teenager, this one a girl with short brown hair, and green eyes.

"Um, hey Alexis. See you decided to come on the hike after all." Carlos said nervously.

"I came to find out what that earthquake was." Alexis said and looked over at Rad. "And who are you?"

Before Rad could reply, a purplish-halo appeared in the sky and a large green and purple metal being landed on the ground. Rad glanced quickly at Carlos, and Alexis to see their shocked expressions._ 'Shit. Only one creature could be visible to mortals and not be affected by the Mist: Aliens. Just my luck.'_ he thought sarcastically.

The metal giant saw the green panel the blonde was holding. "You have something that belongs to me."

"We have what?" Alexis asked perplexed.

"You will give it back _immediately_ or suffer the consequences." The metal creature said.

"Oh great." Rad muttered sarcastically.

"Last chance, earthling." The creature said threatningly.

Even though Rad would have loved to show this creature whose boss, he knew he couldn't with two human kids with. He pulled the panel from his chest, but it slipped from his fingers and hit the ground; where it glowed green before changing into a small blue and gray metal creature and scanned Rad's charm, much to his annoyance.

Rad promptly decided that the small metal creature wasn't his problem anymore and ran, pulling Carlos, and Alexis with him. "You're on your own!" he yelled over his shoulder.

The small creature stared at the blonde's retreating back for a moment before hurriedly running after him. _"Wait! Don't Leave me here!" _he beeped.

Regaining it's wits, the bigger creature flicked a nearby boulder at the reatreating teens and the smaller metal creature. It didn't hit them, but the force of them boulder's landing did cause them to face plant into the ground.

Just as it seemed the purple and green robot was about to get them, a new male and slightly metallic voice rang out. "Stand down, Megatron!"

Rad looked over and saw a blue and red robot, and the purple and green robot snarled, "Prime!"

"Come on, while it's distracted." Rad whispered as the two metal giants began to fight. The three teenagers plus one small robot tried to slink away, but two more purple rings appeared and two more robots showed up; one red and green, the other had wings and was red and white. _'More of them?'_ Rad thought mentally groaning.

"Come on." Alexis urged as she jogged away, the small robot following after her.

The red and white robot noticed the small robot running away, but as it moved to grab it, _two more _appeared; one blue, the other yellow. The yellow robot tackled the winged robot, and the blue one tackled the red and green one.

Rad helped up the fallen Carlos after the younger teen had tripped, feeling thouroughly annoyed with the situation he'd seemed to have initiated._ 'I never should've picked up that panel._' he thought. "That's it. We're heading to the cave." he said tugging both Carlos, and Alexis to the cave, the small robot following after them again.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: I own nothing, sadly.

"Speaking"

_'Thoughts'_

_"Minicon speech"_

_

* * *

_

3.

"Man, I wonder what those robots want with us." Carlos wondered.

"It wasn't us they wanted, it was him." Alexis said gesturing to the small robot. "And they will probably come looking for him."

"Speaking of this little fella." Carlos began and looked at Rad. "He scanned your charm, but I'm pretty sure you weren't wearing it in the forest."

_'Damn it, he noticed.'_ Rad thought. _'But this is something I can at least control.'_ he furrowed his brow slightly in concentration as he manipulated the Mist around them. "What are you talking about Carlos? 'Of course' I was wearing it in the forest. You must've just missed it."

There was a moment of stilled silence as a cloudy look came over Carlos' face, before he smiled and rubbed his head apologetically. "Guess I must've missed it, sorry about that dude."

Rad grimaced slightly as the small metal creature beeped at him suspiciously. _"What did you just do?"_

Rad glanced at him, but ignored him. The sound drew Alexis' attention back to the robot. "Can anyone understand what he's saying anyway?"

Carlos shook his head. "I can't."

Rad didn't even look at the robot as he replied with an apathetic, "Nope."

_"What? You just looked at me an astro-second ago!" _The small blue and gray robot beeped indignantly, though the blonde continued to ignore him. _"Oh forget it."_ he beeped dejectedly and began to walk down into the tunnel.

"Wonder why he's going down there." Alexis wondered aloud.

"Lets follow him and find out." Carlos suggested and Alexis nodded.

Before Rad could voice his protests or stop them, the two younger teens had followed after the small robot. He resisted the urge to groan in annoyance. _'Better follow 'em incase they get into trouble.' _he thought and jogged after them.

The mini robot pressed a strange panel at the end of the tunnel wall and it slid up to reveal a somewhat clean threshold.

"Wow." Both Alexis, and Carlos breathed.

Rad walked over to the computer. "Hmm. I'm going to try and get this thing working."

_"Press the square green button." _The small robot beeped coming to stand beside the blonde.

For once, Rad didn't ignore the robot and pressed down on the button as instructed. An image of the green and purple robot from earlier appeared. "It says here that this is Megatron; leader of the Decepticons." For some reason he felt an echo in his chest at the word, 'Decepticon,' but ignored it and pressed the button again and the red and blue robot from earlier as well appeared. "And this is Optimus Prime; leader of the Autobots. Apparently the Autobot's goal is peace in the universe."

_"Why are you scowling?"_ The small robot beeped upon noticing the way Rad's features had unconciously twisted into a scowl when he had said the Autobot's mission statement. Rad schooled his features and went back to ignoring him. The mini robot once again beeped dejectedly before beeping to get the other two teens attention.

"What's wrong little guy?" Alexis asked.

The small robot went over to the wall and hit a button, causing the wall to slid up, revealing two more green triangular panels. _'There are _more_ of these panel thing? Better memorize it.'_ Rad thought as he concentrated solely on the energy that the panels were emitting.

"It's more of the panels that the little robot had been." Carlos said gesturing to the small robot.

Alexis looked between the robot and the panels. "I think I get it." she said and touched one of the panels. It glowed green and Carlos touched the second one, causing it to glow green as well.

Both panels vanished as two small robots appeared and landed on the floor; one orange, one blue. The blue one held up a digit and Carlos held up his index finger and put it to the small robot's digit, causing it to glow.

"Hey guys, check this out!" Alexis said and held up her scooter.

The orange robot let out a series of beeps before it's head began spinning and when it stopped, it scanned her scooter and turned into a moped and the blue robot turned into more of a hoverboard.

Both younger teens looked in awe at the new vehicles and Carlos grinned. "Hey, why don't we take them out for a spin?"

While Alexis agreed whole-heartedly, Rad remained silent as he glared at the blue and gray robot beside him.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: I own nothing

* * *

4.

Rad loved speed. If anyone ever asked about him, that would be one of the sure fire answers they would get. To him, speed was one thing he was sure a hunter needed: speed, agility, and a pretty damn good aim. So as he was sitting on the backseat of Sureshock with Alexis driving( The blue and gray robot had told him their names.) going at an incredible speed, all he could do was glare at Highwire continously, who was with Carlos on Grindor.

"You sure you don't want to see what I transform into?" Highwire beeped, but Rad's glare answered for him.

They were just crossing a dessert when a rumbling came from behind them and they looked back to see a purple and green tank. Infront of them appeared a green and red tank, on their left was a red and white sonic fighter jet, and their right was a pale blue military helicopter.

"Aw man, we're boxed in!" Carlos yelled.

Rad knew he couldn't risk using his real bow, but he could use a substitute. "Highwire!" The mini robot looked at him rather hopefully. "Transform!" he shouted and held out his arm.

Highwire transformed into a blue and gray futuristic looking bow that was half of Rad's height. "I shoot energy arrows so you don't have to waste any of yours."

"How considerate." Rad murmured as he pulled back the strangely flexible metal that made the string. As he pulled the string back, a crackling white energy arrow appeared. "Sureshock, Grindor, on my signal!" he heard both mini robots beep in confimation. Rad suddenly took aim at the rotor base of the helicopter. The 'copter reeled back at the hit. "Hard right!" he ordered and both Sureshock, and Grindor turned, making an escape from the Decepticons.

"That little glitch!" The 'copter yelled as he went down.

"That was amazing!" Both younger teens chorused, seemingly over looking the fact that Rad called the mini robots by their names.

"We aren't out of the woods yet." Rad said seeing that the other three Decpeticons we're still after them.

"Think you can get another lucky shot?" Carlos asked the blonde.

Rad bristled at the 'lucky shot,' but nodded. "I think I can." he said and pulled the string back again, though this time three enegy arrows appeared. He fired each one, one at a time and they hit each vehicle on it's front.

The green and purple tank roared angrily as he was hit. "Take down the yellow one first!"

"That doesn't sound good." Alexis said as she glanced back at Rad worriedly, who had a calculating look on his face.

Rad looked over at Carlos and Grindor. "Come here." The skateboard moved over to Rad until they were right beside him. Before Carlos could ask what Rad was doing, the blonde jumped onto Grindor and threw the dark-haired boy onto the back seat of Sureshock.

"Wait, what are you doing?" Carlos asked once he got his breath.

"I'll distract them." Rad replied and made three more energy arrows appear. "Sureshock, get them out of here!"

The orange moped beeped. "Good luck, Highwire, Grindor, Yellow One," and sped up with the two younger teens hanging on for dear life.

"Lets go Grindor." Rad said and fired an energy arrow to get the Decepticons attention off the two younger teens and the orange moped. "Why settle for just one 'bot? I've got two!" he yelled.

"What are you doing?" Both mini robots beeped incredulously.

"Baiting them to draw their attention from them to us." Rad whispered.

The three Decepticons paused and had an air of disbelief. "One puny human against a Decepticons? Too easy." The green and red tank declared and transformed.

Rad looked up at him unconcerned. "Too easy huh?" he muttered and pulled out a completely bronze arrow and aimed it straight at the Decepticons chest. "I always _wanted _to know how much damage a celestial bronze weapon could cause an alien."

The tankformer smirked and powered his canon, the other two Decepticons, plus three if you count the groaning pale blue helicopter, were watching the little stand off with something akin to annoyed amusement. The both fired and the arrow cut through the canon fire, dissipating it, and the tankformer only managed to move before the arrow shot through his shoulder.

"That's what you get for underestimating me, Demmy!" Rad felt as shocked as the green and red robot looked. _'Where did that come from?'_ he shook himself of the thought for now; he'd think it over later. Right now he needed to lead them away. "Lets go Grindor."

"Right." Grindor beeped and began speeding away.

Rad looked back at the Decepticons, his silver flecked yellow eyes sparked challengingly. "Catch me if you can!"


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: I own nothing

* * *

5.

As Rad was being chased by some several annoyed Decepticons; Carlos, Alexis, and Sureshock had been found by the Autobts, and it was at Alexis' recognition of the Autobot symbol that they didn't freak out.

Well, not for their own safety anymore.

"We have to go back for them, they can't take on those giant metal creeps on their own!" Alexis pleaded and both Carlos and Sureshock added their own agreements.

"Don't worry about it, Optimus, and Red Alert have gone to get your friend and the other Minicons." The yellow sports car said.

Both Alexis and Carlos exchanged uneasy looks. "Um, he's not really our friend, more like an aquaintance. In fact, I just met him when I interrupted his hunting session and-"

"Hunting?" Alexis cried outraged, effectively cutting Carlos off. "You mean he was out in the woods hunting poor, defenseless, cute little animals?"

Carlos inched away from her. "Um, maybe he was hunting big animals too?" he joked.

"That's just as bad!" Alexis apprently didn't find the joke very funny. "When I get my hands on him I'm going to give him a piece of my mind!"

_'Rad.' _Carlos thought. _'If you survive the evil robots, I sure hopw you can survive Alexis.'_

* * *

"Aw slag!" Rad cursed as he was cornered at a cliff wall. _'Wait, when did I ever learn the word 'slag'?'_ he wondered briefly but was brought out of his musings when a laser fire was shot dangerously close to him.

"This is the end of the line." The purple and green robot said and(after combining with a small white mini robot(since apparently Rad was _that_ much of an annoyance)) activated the canon at his waist. "It's a pit, really." The mech added at the surprised looks he recieved. "Had you been a Cybertronian, you would have made a fine Decepticon, but as it were..." The canon began to glow purple. "Hand over the Minicon and I will make your end as swift as possible."

Rad pulled out another completely bronze arrow and the other three Decepticons tensed slightly as Rad knotched it to his Minicon bow, white energy encassing it to make it stronger. "Does _this_ give you your anwer?"

"If you think you, a mere earthling, cam take on me, Megatron, Supreme Leader of the Decepticons, then you are a bigger fool than Starscream." The purple robot said sounding both amused and angry at the same time as the red and white jet glared at his leader.

Rad and Megatron proceded to engage in a glaring contest before both let loose their respective attacks. Unlike with the green robot though, his arrow was destroyed along with the canon fire as the attacks cancelled each other out and Megatron was thrown back from the force of his own attack.

There was brief beat of tense disbelieving silence before the othe Decepticons began to fire at the blond. Rad tapped his foot down on Grindor to get him to move along the ground as he shot back energy arrow are energy arrow to intecept any laser fire that would have hit him.

A rather clumsy shot landed just a feet from him and Rad 'tsk'ed. "Gee Demmy, your aim is as bad as Jackie's'!" he said and felt another familiar echoing his chest, as if the name held great importance to him, but he couldn't remember it.

"How do you knwo me?" The green and red robot demanded aggravated. How the Pit did this earthling know his and Wheeljack's nicknames?

"Funny, I was just wondering the same thing myself." Rad said as he continued to fire more energy arrows.

* * *

A/N: The only reason Rad is able to go toe-toe with the Decepticons is because they underestimated him, and he used it to his advantage.

How Rad knows who Demolishor and Wheeljack are(or their names at least) will later be revealed.


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: I own nothing

* * *

6.

"Alright Grindor, I think we bought the others enough time, now it's our turn to get away." Rad said.

"Best idea you've had so far." Grindor beeped.

"Yes, why must you always come up with such self-sacrificing strategies, Rad." Highwire beeped in agreement.

Rad frowned slightly. _'I never told them my name, so how is it Highwire knows what it is?'_

"You're not getting away that easily, fleshling!" The red and white jet screeched, firing at the blond.

_'I can't keep this up much longer, my arms are starting to get tired.'_ Rad thought.

Just then more fire came from the opposite direction and the red and blue, and blue robots from earlier appeared. _'Finally, some help.' _Rad thought in gratitude.

* * *

After driving the Decepticon off, the Autobots, minicons, and human(as far as they knew anyway) companions had gone back to the crashed spaceship. Once Rad had arrived, Alexis thoroughly chewed him out, explaining all the reasons why hunting animals was wrong.

Rad had remained silent through it since he decided that it was better to let her get it out, even though her words had no effect on him. Once she was finished, the three teens and three minicons went to an upper rail to be on optic level with the Autobots.

Carlos looked over at Rad. "First off dude, where in the world did you learn to shoot like that?" he asked in awe.

"By shooting animals I bet." Alexis muttered grudgingly, any awe she might've felt for him long gone, but she still wanted to hear his answer.

Rad glanced over at Carlos. "My mother and sister's taught me." A slight smile crossed his face as he thought back to the first time he'd ever held and fired a bow.

The blue robot broke him out of his thoughts by spaeking up next. "From the way you held off the Decepticons; I must say, I am rather impressed with your skill."

"It was rather reckless of you to take them on at all." The blue robot chastised.

"Well I wasn't about to let either of these kids or minicons get captured, so I did what I had to do." Rad shrugged. "I knew they would underestimate me, so I used that to my advantage. It's like I always say: Think before you shoot, but shoot before you're shot."

None of them noticed how the yellow robot flinched slightly. _'That's exactly what _he _used to say.'_

"Oh, where are my manners. I'm Alexis, and this is Carlos." Alexis gestured to the dark-haired boy.

There was an odd space of silence when Alexis had stopped talking and Rad felt three pairs of optics looking at him questioningly._ 'Oh, right.' _he thought. "We'll, my name's Rad."

All three of the Autobot's optics widened slightly at the name. It waas probably a coincidence they told themselves. Alexis raised a brow at the name. "Who name you that?"

Rad glared at her. "My mother." Alexis flinched and looked away.

Carlos looked between them both before looking up at the Autobots. "So what are your names?"

"I, am Optimus Prime, leader of the Autobots." The red and blue robot said and looked at the other two robots. "Autobots, roll call."

"I am Red Alert." The blue robot sais in a cool tone.

The yellow robot grinned. "I'm Hotshot! And I take no prisoners." his grin faltered when he looked at Rad.

"Tell me Optimus, why do you want the minicons?" Rad questioned.

"The Decepticons would only see and use the minicons as tools. We want to help them." Prime answered.

Rad looked over at Highwire and the minicon nodded. "It's true."

"Well, we'll help you in any way we can." Carlos said.

"That won't be necessary, we can handle it." Optimus answered politely.

"But I'm sure we could-" Alexis began.

"No." Rad interrupted. Both younger teens looked at him in disbelief. "We would be more of a hindrance than a help. Look how small we are compared to them." Feeling he had thoroughly discouraged them of any ideas of getting involved in the transformer's war, he looked up at the Autobot leader. "Optimus, I leave Highwire in your capable hands."

Optimus nodded and Rad made his way to the exit.

* * *

A/N: I was making subtle hints to a transformer also named Rad (what are the odds?), that supposedly had died in an explosion. This will tie into my later on explaination as to the big revelation the transformer's get. Also I wanted to clear up any confusion as to when any of them refer to 'our' or 'other' regarding the Cybertronian Rad as the story progresses.


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: I own nothing

* * *

7.

Rad groaned as he saw the exit he'd come in through was caved in. "Now how am I gonna get out?" he'd packed up his campsite earlier after he'd given Highwire to the Autobot's.

"I can help you, if you want." A feminine voice said.

Rad turned around and saw a young girl with long brown hair and almond-shaped eyes wearing a gray dress. Rad vaguely realized he was in a cave-a grotto. "I would very much aprreciate your help if you know another exit."

"Follow me, Son of Artemis." The Napaea said gesturing for him to follw her.

Rad blinked as he walked after her. "How do you know who I am?"

The Napaea looked over her shoulder at him. "You are the first child Lady Artemis ever had, and something like that is not so easily forgotten."

"But I was kept a secret." Rad shrugged after a moment of thought. "Well, until my Uncle made an unexpected visit when I was 4 that is."

"You were kept a secret from the other Olympians, but through one of your sitters, we nymphs learned of your existence before hand." The Napaea replied.

Rad nodded. "That makes sense." he furrowed his brow. "I think." he thought back to when he was little and his mother would often leave him with a trusted nymph because she and his sisters were off hunting some monster and it was too dangerous for him to come. No matter how many times he had given them the puppy-dog eyes.

A sudden blare of sunlight made Rad cringe and he held his hand up to eyes and waited for his eyes to adjust to the light. Once that was done, he turned to the nymph in gratitude. "I thank you for your help, and I hope the Autobots don't cause your home too much damage."

The Napaea nodded. "So do I."

* * *

Rad looked over at the cliffside and felt a familiar energy coming from it. 'Damn it. Not more Minicon panels.' he thought exasperated. He felt quite frustated with the whole days worth of action and the fight he'd had with the Decepticons left him wanting to just take a very long nap.

The last thing he wanted was _more _trouble.

_'Still, I'd rather the Autobots got them before any Decepticons do.' _he thought and furrowed his brow as a blurry black humanoid image came to mind. He shook the thought off and went to where the wnergy reading was and absently noted he was feeling more presenses.

Rad sighed when he saw that he'd have to do some digging to get to the panels. "Better start digging." he muttered.

"Want some help, Raddy?" A female voice asked with some humour.

Rad turned around and saw a rather pretty woman long braided back auburn hair and granite gray eyes. He recoginzed her immediately as when he was younger he'd thought she'd looked a lot like his mother in her older form. "Miss Bri!" he said with surprise at seeing her there, and briefly wondered if it was her who leaked to the other nymphs about his existence.

"Surprised to see me?" Britomartis asked rasing a brow. Rad nodded mutely. "Well, I had been minding my own business when I should see a little blond firing white arrows at purple blasts coming from metal ginats."

Rad cringed. "Sorry." he said in quiet apology.

Britomartis waved the comment off. "That's quite alright Raddy. I'm just glad you're alright. Though after you left, I found a green panel, and what should appear? A little robot." she waved something over and a little robot came over.

"A minicon!" Rad stated. "You found him, Miss Bri?"

Britomartis nodded. "He said his name is Crumplezone." she looked at the minicon. "Would you be so kind as to help Raddy, and I dig out the other panels?"

Crumplezone saluted. "Yes, ma'am!"

Rad blinked as the minicon cam over to help him dig. _'She certainly made an impression on him. Oh wait, she activated him, so _of course _she would.'_ Rad thought digging alongside the minicon and soon enough Britomartis joined them.


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: I own nothing

* * *

8.

"I think we got 'em!" Rad exclaimed as he heard Crumplezone's metal hands hit an equally metal object.

Britomartis dusted the dirt away and pulled out three green triangular panels. She handed the clean one to Crumplezone. "Hold this please."

"Yes ma'am." Crumplezone beeped.

Rad's head snapped up as he felt energy suddenly converging from above. A portal opened and a pale blue helicopter came through. "It's a Decepticon." Rad hissed. "Crumplezone, take Miss Bri and the Minicon panels while I deal with him." he said reaching for his charm.

Crumplezone though stopped him. "No, it is me he wants. I will take one of the panels and lead him away, but keeps the other panels and ma'am safe, Raddy. And if it's not too much, please protect all the Minicons."

Rad grimaced, both from the nickname and the request, but after a brief moment of thought, he nodded. "I promise."

"You don't have to sacrifice your freedom for us." Britomartis countered.

Crumplezone stared at her for a moment. "You have shown me a kindness only a creator could give, something I have never known, and I thank you for that." he hugged Britomartis before running off with one of the panels.

Rad watched the Minicon run off and looked over at Britomartis. "Hurry Miss Bri, we have to get out of sight." Britomartis nodded and Rad looked back once more at where Crumplezone had been. _'I may not want any part of this war, but it seems I can't aviod it anymore.'_ his eyes hardened. _'But I refuse to be affiliated with either faction.'_

* * *

"You put up quite a chase, don't mention it to Megatron." Cyclonus warned as he placed Crumplezone on his shoulder and took the panel from him.

_'As if you'd understand me.'_ Crumplezone thought. He was unsure of how Rad had been able to communicate with him when it had been Britomartis who'd activated him. Maybe he had a strange ability that allowed him to understand Minicons or something?

"So you've retrieved the Minicon and a panel. Excellent." Megatron said and took the panel from Cyclonus. "Did you happen to find the Yellow One?"

The 'copter bot scowled at the mention of Rad. "No sir, but when I do I'm gonna blast that little earthling to pieces for shooting me out of the sky!"

_'Rad shot him out of the sky?'_ Crumplezone thought with surprise as he had deducted that the 'Yellow One' was Rad. _'Perhaps asking him to protect the Minicons was a good idea after all.'_

* * *

Rad looked at the two remaining Minicon panels with a brooding look on his face. The fire he had made reflected in his eyes, making them gain almost an eery red glow.

"It's already into the night Rad." Britomartis said in concern. "You should really go to sleep, the panels will still be here in the morning."

"You're right Miss Bri." Rad said and looked up at the shimmering, glowing pale moon in the night sky. "Good night mother." he said quietly and pulled part of his duvet over him as he laid on his side on the ground. 'Tommorow I go back to the Autobots to give them the panels.'

_"Song of the moon_  
_Going up the sky_  
_Is soft as a feather_  
_Of lullaby."_ Britomartis sang.

Rad recognized the familiar song from when she would sing to him when he had trouble sleeping. "I'm not a little boy anymore, Miss Bri."

"I'd think your mother would disagree with you on that. No matter how old you get, you'll always be her little boy." Britomartis said softly and continued singing.

_"Wings are brooding  
__Still as a star  
__Crooning to earth  
__From high and far_

_Birdling rest  
__In their oval shell  
__Quiet as bronze  
__Of a silent bell."_

Rad felt all his muscles relax as he drifted asleep to the sound of Britomartis' voice.

_"Slumber my dove  
__The night is deep  
__The dark's a dream  
__And sound asleep..."_


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: I own nothing

* * *

9.

"So you came back." Alexis said glaring at Rad and crossing her arms.

Rad stared at impassively. "And it appears you did not take my advice." he retorted and moved passed her further into the Autobot base. "Red Alert! Hotshot!" he called.

Both aforementioned mechs came into view, both looking at him with some surprise, though the latter's optics were filled with faint traces of guilt, and hope.

"You came back!" Hotshot repeated what Alexis had said with a little more joy than her.

Rad nodded, his face now set into a dour stare. "I came back because of these." he said taking his pack off and pulling out the two remaining Minicon panels. "I found these and thought of you two." he said flatly as both mechs activated the panels.

_"We're awake?"_ Both the blue and the orange Minicons beeped.

Just then an alarm blared through the base. "What is that sound?" Rad asked.

"That's the Minicon alarm, it means another Minicon location has been revealed." Red Alert explained.

"So soon?" Rad muttered not expecting to have to keep his promise right off the bat, but oh well.

* * *

Rad cringed back grimacing at seeing the horrid orange jumpsuits that appeared on Carlos, and Alexis. The both looked at their suits amazed, while Rad made his discontent known. "I am not wearing _that_."

"Come on, Rad, they're cool!" Carlos said.

Rad frowned in distaste. "If you're a traffic cone." he replied. He looked up at Red Alert. "While the thought about our safety by giving us these suits is welcome, but wearing that color would be as wong as me giving up hunting."

_'Which you should.' _Alexis thought glaring at him.

Not wasting anymore time, they headed to the warp gate and the teens with their Minicons got into Optimus' cabin. When they arrived at Big Canyon they got out and Carlos went over to the blue and white vehicle.

"I'm gonna go with my amigo Red Alert." Carlos announced and before getting in he looked at Rad hopefully. "You wanna come with?"

Rad pretened to think it over since it just seemed more polite than flat-out refusing. "Um, no thanks Carlos."

Carlos deflated for a moment before smiling again. "Maybe next time then."

"Maybe." Rad muttered as the blue and white vehicle drove off.

"Hotshot, can I go with you?" Alexis asked the sports car sweetly.

"Sure thing. Hop in Alexis." Hotshot replied.

"Rad." Optimus' voice rang in Rad's ear. "The Minicons will come with me, you go with Hotshot."

"With all due respect Optimus, I need to go with the Minicons." Rad said.

"Alright Rad." Optimus relented and Rad sat next to Highwire, coincidentally enough.

The blue and gray Minicon had seemed rather shocked that the blond had come back after so callously leaving him with the Autobots. Still, the happiness over any hurt or anger he felt as he latched onto Rad in a hug. _"You came back!"_ he beeped happily.

"Don't get your hopes up. I never wanted to stat any of this." Rad grumbled.

_"Then why did you come back?"_ Grindor asked curiously.

"A promised." Rad answered quietly.

_"A promise?"_ Sureshock repeated.

Rad nodded. "I promised someone who did a very noble thing to protect the Minicons. That's why I came back with those two panels." his mouth pressed into a hard line. "I may be a lot of things, but I _always_ keep my promises."

_"Then does your promise extand to **all** of the Minicons?"_ Highwire asked tentatively as he let go of Rad.

Rad narrowed his eyes in contemplation. "Yes." he answered finally. "A Minicon is still a Minicon, Autobot or Deception allied; if you ever need my help, I'll help you."


	10. Chapter 10

A/N: I own nothing

* * *

10.

"Where could that Mincon panel be?" Optimus wondered as he looked over the ravine.

Rad saw the Minicons also looking around and Highwire even jumped onto the Autobot leader's foot for a better view. Rad closed his eyes and concentrated on the familiar energy that the panels emitted. He opened his eyes and pointed to the right. "That way. That is where the panel is."

"How can you be so sure?" Rad didn't even need to look at Optimus to see the confusion in his optics.

"Just trust me; it's there." Rad re-affirmed his statement by looking for a path or some way down. "If you don't believe me, I'll get it myself." he said as he found as small ledge that would be efficient enough to help him get down.

Before Rad could go gown though, Optimus called for him to stop. "Wait." Rad looked at him. "Are you sure it's down there?"

Rad's twisted in annoyance. "Yes, it i_s_ down there."

As they went down the side of the ravine and reached the bottom, Rad felt the energy abit more strongly. _'This is the right direction.'_ he thought. "It's this way." he said, beginning to walk in the direction.

AS they walked on, the energy came more strongly until Rad saw a strange rock formation in the cliff wall and felt it centered around the area. "It's there, in that rock formation."

A sudden opened. "Optimus sir."

"What is it, Hotshot?" Optimus asked.

"We found the Minicon's location and-How did you already get there?" Hotshot asked incredulously as he sent the co-ordinates to show the Minicons, Optimus, and Rad already at the panels location.

Optimus shook his head. "You wouldn't believe it. Primus, I'm still trying to believe it myself." Rad smiled lightly at this.

"Come on guys, we've got to retrieve a new charge." Rad said, but a sudden blast caused them to look around and see a purple and green mech standing with his shoulder canons smoking.

"I think not, Fleshling. That Minicon is mine." Megatron countered.

Optimus looked down at Rad. "Get the Minicons to safety."

Rad looked torn between going through with the order or continue to try and get the panel. His promise won out. "Come on." he said to the other Minicons.

The blond and the Minicons went up to a higher spot on the cliff as the two faction leaders began to fight. Rad heard the sound of an engine and saw Hotshot driving over. Alexis got out and crouched beside Sureshock.

"What's going on?" she asked.

"Rad found the Minicon panel then Megatron attacked." Sureshock beeped.

"You found it?" Alexis asked Rad in disbelief. "How?"

"Just lucky, I guess." Rad shrugged egnigmatically.

"Yeah right." Highwire beeped. "You knew exactly where it was!"

"Optimus is getting his aft kicked." Rad pointed out suddenly. Their attention turned to the downed Optimus.

And before Megatron could finish off Optimus, a red and white jet appeared and pulled one of his wings off, making it a sword. "I will finish you off Prime, and claim that Minicon as my own." he said in a raspy voice.

_'If Optimus is gone, then that means the panel will be in danger!'_ Rad thought. His hand clutched his moon charm. He glanced around and let out a frustrated growl at all the bots looking at the fight. _'Screw it, I can make something up with the humans later.' _he thought and stood up. He changed his charm into his bow, the silver weapon glintng in the sunlight. He pulled out an arrow and knotched it before firing.

The arrow caught the jet by surprise as it hit him in the shoulder. He ripped the arrow out and his optics locked on Rad's form. "You!"

Rad grinned ferally as he ran up the path to distance himself from the others and a homicidal-looking Decepticons wrath. "Don't you knwo it's not very nice to kick a mech when their down?" he sneered and knotched another arrow. "Then again, you never could follow the rules."

"Who do you think you are, Fleshling?" The jet screeched, distacted from his previous task of offlinining the Autobot leader.

"My name is _not_ Fleshling damn it!" Rad snarled, his eyes blazing sliver in anger. "It's Rad!"


	11. Chapter 11

A/N: I own nothing

* * *

11.

"Did that really just happen?" Carlos questioned after the Decepticons had retreated.

"That the Decepticons retreated after hearing Rad's name? Yeah, it happened." Hotshot replied dazed.

Rad changed his bow back into it's charm form and went over to Optimus as he took the panel out of the cliffside and activated it to reveal a yellow minicon. "What's his name?"

Optimus looked down at Rad. "This is Sparkplug, he was my old Minicon partner back on Cybertron."

"Um, not to interrupt," Alexis began, "but Carlos and I need to get back home, and I'm sure you do too." That part was directed at Rad.

Rad frowened slightly. _'Not really.'_

* * *

"Shouldn't you be heading home?" Carlos asked as he saw that Rad was setting up a small pit outside the cave entrance.

"No." Rad answered without looking up.

"Won't your parents be worried?" Alexis asked.

Rad paused, as if considering the question before answering. "Parent." he corrected. "And my mother trusts that I'm alright when I'm out of reach."

"What kind of mother would let their kid wander off for days on their own?" Alexis huffed. "Talk about bad parenting skills."

Rad snarled as he finally deigned to face them, his eyes burning a bright silver. "You don't know _anything _about my mother!" he snapped. "So don't go assuming that I'm on my own without reason, got it?" he hissed. "She's the best parent I could ever ask for, so don't question her parenting skills!"

Both younger teens nodded rapidly before leaving on their skateboard and moped respectively._ 'Note to self: 'Never' insult Rad's mom.' _They both thought.

Rad watched them both disappear before calming himself down. He heard heavy footsteps and turned around to see Highwire, Jolt, aLongarm, and Sparkplug approaching him. "Is there something I can help you with?"

Highwire shifted a bit. "Yes, may we ask you some questions?"

Rad frowned slightly. "The Autobots put you up to this, didn't they? Since they don't trust me all that much, do they?" he saw them exchange looks and sighed in frustration. "Fine. But make it quick, it's been a long day and I want to rest soon."

The Minicons nodded and Highwire started off with, "What's your full name?"

"What's the importance of knowing my name?" Rad asked.

"It's relavant, trust us." Jolt beeped.

Rad smiled ruefully at that. "Fine. My full name is Rad Orion White."

"How old are you?" Jolt beeped.

"15." Rad felt their incredulous optics on him. "I really am 15."

"Okay, when was your creation day?" Longarm beeped.

Rad did frown that time. "I...don't know." he shook his head. "I just have no reason to celebrate it anymore so I kinda forgot it."

"What are the names of your creators?" Sparkplug beeped.

"Never had a father, and I can't tell you my mother's name without you asking questions." Rad explained. "I'll tell you when _I'm_ ready to trust you all, got it?"

The Minicons accepted the answer and continued to question him.

* * *

While the Minicon we're 'interrogating' Rad, the Decepticons were having their own thoughts on the blond. They were more or less shocked and suspicious than anything else.

"I thought he was supposed to be dead?" Starscream muttered.

"He is dead! Octane killed him, remember?" Cyclonus snapped.

All the 'Cons scowled at the mention of the renegade.

"Then how could this Rad know thing like what my annoying nickname was? Or Wheeljack's? And he's not even here!" Demolishor said. "Or how did he know that bit about Starscream?" Said jet shot him a glower.

"This is no ordinary earthling, that is certain." Megatron said brining the attention back to him. "His weapon can penetrate our armour and he showed no fear of us in our initial encounters and even dared to challenge me to let the other earhtlings escape."

The other Decepticons exchanged looks seeing as their leader rarely ever praised or complimented anyone, and here he was talking about this 'new' Rad as if he were a particularly outstanding recruit.

"For now," The Deceptiocn leader broke them out of their thoughts, "we keep an optic on this particular earthling. Whether or not he is connected to our Rad-seeing as that designation is very unquie-and confirm our suspcions.

"And if not?" The jet inquired.

"Either way, he could be very useful."

* * *

"Last question: Would you consent to a medical scan?"

"What for?"

"To confirm whether you have a spark or not."

Rad glared heatedly at them. "What the _frag _did you just say?"


	12. Chapter 12

A/N: I own nothing

* * *

12.

"Really, they had the nerve to ask if I had a heart." Rad growled as he combed through the Napaea from ealiers hair.

"Perhaps you misunderstood what they were asking?" Rowan questioned feeling guitly bliss from having convinced Rad to comb her hair in return for a listening ear. "What about your thoughts on the youth and maiden that were with them?"

Rad snorted. "I will reserve any definetive judgement 'till later on the Autobots and them. The only reason I'm still here is because I promised Crumplezone that I'd protect the Minicons." he explained. "I am neutural on my thoughts for the most part on Carlos, seeing as he had done nothing to warrant my disapproval." Rad then frowned. "But I'm not to keen on Alexis though. I respect her opinion on human hunting matters and them killing for sport, but not when it comes to _my_ hunting." he glared at nothing in particular. "After all, who is she to tell me that hunting to survive is wrong?"

"She just doesn't understand." Rowan reasoned. "After all, she is just a human. Telling you not to hunt is like telling a fish not to swin or a bird not to swim. It's just what you do, it's in your blood."

Rad smiled lightly. "At least you get it." he brushed through her brown hair once more before nodding to himself. "Done."

* * *

"This Minicon is where?" Rad questioned as he raised a brow.

"Antartica." Carlos answered as they got their jumpsuits on. "Your gonna be pretty cold without one you know."

"As if he's cold enough already." Alexis huffed.

Rad glared at her before smirking. "Actually, I have just the thing." he took off his back pack and pulled out a long blue garment. He put it on to show it was a knee-lengthed cloak. It had a crescent moon clasp and the hood and collar on it was lined with fluffy white fur.

"So cool!" Carlos said in awe.

"Is it real?" Alexis asked suspciously.

Rad scoffed. "All my furs are real." he said and looked pointedly down at his brown fur-lined hiking boots.

Alexis recoiled. "That's cruel!" she snapped. "How can you be so heartless?"

Rad's lip curled back into a snarl. He was still sore about when the Minicons had asked if he had a heart, and this just deepened the wound. "What did you just say to me, _child?"_

Carlos looked between them both and stepped between them. "Not now." he said placatingly. "There's no reason to fight amongst ourselves."

Both of them glared at each other, but Rad scoffed. "I don't have time for your petty complaints, I have a Minicon panel to find." he said turning away.

"Petty complaints?" Alexis repeated outraged as she glared after Rad.

Carlos shook his head. _'Why can't they just get along?'_


	13. Chapter 13

A/N: I own nothing

* * *

13.

One new pulse of energy appeared...

Then another...

...and _another._

_'Decepticons.' _Rad thought and once again a blurry black image came to mind, though this time there was an image of a blurry humanoid-like blurry image of purple and gray. _'Why can't these weird images be clearer? That, and why do they seem so familiar?'_

Rad recoiled slightly as he felt a hand shake his shoulder. He opened his previously closed eyes and saw Carlos moving his hand away from his shoulder. "Yes?"

"Optimus says there's something wrong with his circuits, so we have to get out." Carlos replied.

Rad nodded and hopped out of the cabin, his cloak fluttering slightly before stilling. He looked around at all the black and white birds. "Heh, never ate penguins before." he said darkly, loud enough for that annoying activist to hear.

Alexis sudddenly grabbed his arm in a death grip. "You're not going to kill any of these poor birds!"

Rad wrenched his arm free scowling. "It was a joke." he huffed. "The only avians I eat are chicken and turkey." he looked over his shoulder at the Autobots. "I'm going to find that panel, don't wait up."

Not bothering to wait for a reply, Rad turned and ran off. Almost immediately, Highwire ran after him.

"What a piece of work." Alexis muttered resentfully.

Carlos though had a look of admiration on his face. "Yeah, ain't he so cool?"

* * *

Rad looked around with narrowed eyes as he tried to sense the energy from the panel, but because he was probably so far away from it and so close to Highwire it made it difficult to sense it properly. The only reason he had sensed Sparkplug clearly was because it was as if the yellow Minicon _wanted_ to be found.

A realization of sorts came to him and looking at Highwire, he asked, "When the Minicons are still panels, can they be awake or sleep?"

Highwire let out a surprised beep. _"Yes, they can."_

Rad nodded and closed his eyes and a look of concentration crossed his face. He'd been practicing using this particular ability with his energy sensing that one of his sitter's who he affectionetaly called 'Miss A' had begun to teach him. It was rather difficult seeing as he was used to having the energy essentionally come to him, rather than him having to send it out. It was only instinct that he was able to sense monsters and half-bloods without trying.

He'd only managed to keep a telepathic-yet-not link with Miss A for at least a solid 8 minutes.

Rad pushed his own energy out and focused on the faint essence of a sleeping Minicon panel. _'Minicon, speak to me if yo can hear me.' _he called in his mind.

Rad felt a faint pulse and heard a beep which sounded sleepy resound in his head. _'Who's there?'_

_'My name is Rad .'_ The blond thought.

_'Rad'_ The Minicon beeped in surprise at the oddly Cybertronian sounding name. _'That's a nice designation.'_

_'Thank you. My mother gave me the name specifically because of it's meaning. A change into something better and wonderful.' _Rad thought.

_'Your mother must love you alot to put so much thought into what to call you.'_ The Minicon beeped.

_'She does.'_ Rad thought. _'What is your name?'_

_'You may call me Jetstorm.'_ The Minicon beeped.

_'Cool name.'_ Rad thought. _'Well Jetstorm, how can I locate you better? All I'm really getting are faint pusles.'_

_'If you want to find me, I suggest you play a rhythmic tune.'_ Jetstorm explained and Rad could almost feel the Minicon's bashfulness. _'We Minicons like a good tune.'_

_'Then I have just the thing.'_ Rad thought. _'Hang tight, I'll find you soon.'_ he sent a wave of reassurance with the thought before cutting the almost-yet-not telepathic link with Jetstorm and blinked his eyes open.

_"What did you do?"_ Highwire beeped.

"I made contact with Jetstorm." Rad replied and dug into the gray pouch attached to his polished brown and gold belt.

_"Wait, how do you know his name?"_ Highwire beeped curiously.

"I used my energy senseing abililty to create an almost telepathic link with Jetstorm." Rad explianed.

_"You're full of surprises."_ Highwire beeped in amazement.

"Got that right." Rad nodded and leveled Highwire with a glare. "Though I trust you will not tell anyone about what I said; I'll tell them when I'm good and ready, got it?" The Minicon nodded rapidly, not wanting to mess things up since Rad was somewhat tolerating his prescence.

Rad pulled a shiny black round object with a crescent moon along the left side on it out of his pouch. He opened the top and it looked like a compact at first glance. The top half was a mirror, but on the bottom there was faintly glowing lights and a soft melodic tune began to play and Highwire stiffened.

_"What is that?"_ he beeped.

"It was a gift from my grandmother." Rad replied. "She gave it to me when I was very young. It shows me my most-" Rad stopped himself before he could finish.

_"It shows you what?"_ Highwire beeped.

"I'l tell you later." Rad muttered as he felt the energy from Jetstorm strengthen. "Got the reading." he announced.

They both suddenly heard a jet engine and looked up to see a red and white jet flying a fwe miles away. _"Looks like you're not the only one."_ Highwire beeped.

Rad glared at the jet. "Come one Highwire, we have to beat him to Jetstorm." he said before he began running in the direction of the energy.

_"Wait up!"_ Highwire beeped and ran after Rad.


	14. Chapter 14

A/N: I own nothing

* * *

14.

"We're close." Rad said and he heard a familiar voice call him.

"Rad! There you are!" CArlos cried relieved ashe and Alexis ran up to him.

"What ar you doing here?" Rad asked glaring at them.

"They tracked the Minicon's signal to here and the Autobots are engaging the Decepticons." Alexis summarized.

The snowy ground they were on began to shake. Rad looked over the edge and saw the red and white jet climbing up the ice wall with his wing sword. "Slag!"

"Yes...soon...I'll have my very own pet." Starscream rasped.

Rad's eyes landed on the thing he was going for. "Slag on a _stick._ He's in the ice."

A particularly hard shake made Carlo fall over the edge. Alexis gave a cry of fright before grabbing at his ankles and started to go over herself. Both Rad and Highwire grabbed a hold of Alexis ankles and started to pull her up. Another shake of the ground caused Highwire to lose his footing and fell forward, Rad being pulled over the edge along with the rest of them.

"SCRAP!" he yelled . He let out a grunt of pain when he landed on something solid and metallic. He opened his eyes and saw they had landed on a flying iridescent disk and that he had landed on Highwire with both Alexis and Carlos being beneath him. "You two okay?"

"Oooh." Both younger teens groaned in pain.

The disk went back to Red Alert after hed swiped it from Starscream. (_'Seriously, that _jet falls? _Can't he _fly?' Rad had thought incredulously.)

* * *

"Why won't it activate?" Alexis asked looking at the inactive Minicon panel.

"Maybe he just needs some rest after the day he had." Rad suggested, and still no one found it strange that he was already reffering to the panel as a 'he.'

Carlos nodded. "He's right. We still have school."

Rad's brow scrunched up. "What's school?"

Both younger teens looked at him in disbelief. "You mean yo don't know what a school is?" They echoed.

"No." Rad replied.

"What, were you raised in the wild?" Alexis joked.

"Yes." Rad deadpanned. Again, they looked at him incredulously, but shook it off as Rad having a twisted sense of humor. Rad looked around once after they both left and place a hand on the panel, as the closeness would actually make it easier to communicate with Jetstorm. _'Why won't you activate? Is there something wrong?' _he called.

_'Rad, I can not activate unless I am with the other two Minicons who make up the Starsaber.' _Jetstorm replied.

_'Starsaber?' _Rad repeated. _'What's that?'_

"Rad?"

The blonde jumped back from Jetstorm in shock and looked up a the blue 'Bot. "Yes Red Alert?"

"Rad, I know you already declined, but I really must scan you for a spark." Red Alert insisted.

Rad's face contorted in anger. "No damn it!" he snapped. "I know I'm a rather cold person, but you don't have to say I'm heartless!"

Red Alert recoiled slightly at thew rather vehement outburst. _'He thought that...' _Then again, for someone like Rad, it would be rather easy for them to come to the conclusion that asking if he had a spark meant that he was heartless. "No Rad, you misunderstood. I am not accusing you or calling you sparkless. I am merely requesting a scan for an actual spark seeing as your odd readings are simliar to that of a Cybertronian's." he explained.

Rad's anger was placated at the explaination. "Oh, scan away then."

Red Alert nodded and a blue glow went over Rad. "I am sorry if the way the Minicons or I asked if you had a spark upsetted you so much."

Rad flushed in embarrassement and turned away. "Yeah, well, I'm sorry for snapping like that." he may be a jerk, but even he could apologize when he was wrong. _'Rowan was right when she said I didn't understand what they were asking. I owe both her and the Minicons an apology also.' _he thought. "I may not show it, but I _am _capable of compassion." he paused. "The fact that I'm still here to protect the Minicons is proof of that."


	15. Chapter 15

15.

"About time a Minicon became active in my natural environment." Rad said looking wistfully out at the trees.

"Um, you were joking about being raised in the wild, right?" Carlos asked nervously.

Rad looked at him with a deadpan expression. "No, I really was raised in the wild. In fact, my best friend in the world was a Shetland Sheepdog that my mom gave him when I turned 7." Rad's expression twisted up in anger as he suddenly saw all the tree stumps.

"They were probably cut down my illegal loggers." Alexis put in.

Rad's eyes suddenly went silver as he sat back in his seat. "Doesn't anyone realize that we need the trees to provide oxygen, or that they are actual homes." he avoid saying 'animals' since it was necessarily animals that lived in the trees.

"So you may have a heart after all." Alexis said.

Rad frowned at looked at the steering wheel. "Optimus, let me out. Now."

"Rad, I don't think-" Optimus stopped as the forest got thick. "How well do you know the forests?"

"Like the back of my hand." Rad stated.

"We'll have to continue on foot." Optimus started. "Rad, be careful, and take Highwire with you. He said opening his door.

"Sure." Rad said jumping out and Highwire followed after the blonde as he ran into the forest.

"Optimus sir, are you sure that was such a good idea? I mean, Rad could get hurt." Hotshot said.

"From what I've seen of him so far, he would have been far more angry if he didn't leave." Optimus stated. "He is also capable of handling himself and Highwire, the Decepticons can certainly vouch for that."

* * *

Rad looked around as squirrels and rabbits all looked at him, as if they knew who he was. _'Am I really that noticeable?'_ he thought and briefly thought of what other power he got from his mother would be.

His head snapped up as he sensed three closely knitted together energies, which were accompanied by laughter, beeping and barking. "It can't be." He whispered.

Highwire looked at him. _"What is it?"_

"Come on, I think I just found the Minicon." Rad said and ran toward the energy signatures.

Highwire ran after him and nearly crashed into him when Rad came to a sudden stop. _"What…?"_ he beeped confused and looked around Rad to see what the blond was looking at.

There were three figures; one was a red Minicon, most likely the one they were looking for. The second was a beautiful woman with long red hair, bright green eyes, clear pale skin, and she was a wearing a long white dress with a blue stole around her shoulders. The third was a black and fawn-colored dog with fluffy fur.

The woman looked over at them and a confused look crossed her face before it broke out into a radiant smile. "Rad!" she cried joyfully as she ran over to him and wrapped her arms around him in a hug, Rad hugging back. The woman pulled back and held him at arm's length. "It's so nice to see you again."

Rad smiled warmly, truly surprising Highwire as he'd never seen the blond smile like that. "It's good to see you too, Mrs. S."


	16. Chapter 16

16.

Highwire looked between Rad and the woman. "Rad, who's she?"

Rad looked over at him, his smile dropping somewhat. "This is Mrs. S, or Sparta to be more precise. Mrs. S, this is Highwire, he's a Minicon." He looked over at the red Minicon. "Though it looks like you've already found one of your own."

Sparta waved the red Minicon over and the sheepdog followed, looking at Rad curiously. "This is Swindle. I found him when I was passing a dryad complaining about a hunk of metal that had been stuck in her tree for hundreds of years. So when I took it out, this little guy appeared."

Rad nodded and looked at the dog still staring at him. "You don't remember me Laelaps? I am hurt; did I not promise to return for you?"

The dog looked more closely at him before sniffing and a look of recognition appeared in those dark eyes before the sheepdog tackled the blond to the ground and started licking his face. Rad let out a string out laughter which surprised Highwire more than the smile did, this was probably the first time he'd ever actually heard the blond laugh or look so happy even.

Sparta watched the reunion fondly and was smiling. "He has missed you so much, Rad."

Rad's face glowed as he grinned softly. "And I him." He said getting up. "Highwire, this is Laelaps, my best friend in the whole world. Highwire felt a twinge of jealously, just like before when Rad was talking about the dog. "I left him with Mrs. S for a while, but I also promised him that come back for him." He finished fondly.

"As much as I enjoy seeing you, I take it that you have a different reason for your visit?" Sparta asked.

Rad nodded. "The Autobots and Decepticons are looking for him." He said gesturing to Swindle.

_"And you have come to hand me over?"_ Swindle beeped bitterly.

"Technically, my affiliation is to neither faction, but I had promised Crumplezone to protect his fellow Minicons." Rad explained.

This seem to make Swindle relax slightly. _"So what now?"_ he beeped.

"We-" Rad froze as he heard a loud roar that was too eerily familiar. "Oh shit!" he yelled as he looked around to search for the monster's energy.

"Language! You know how I feel about swearing!" Sparta chastised sternly.

Rad made an apologetic sound as he called for Highwire's bow form. "Swindle, get Mrs. S and Laelaps as far away as possible from here."

"No way, Rad." Sparta countered and both Minicon and sheepdog added their own agreements.

"Please, I don't want any of you to get hurt…or worse." Rad said honestly.

"I'm reputed to be fair." Sparta began. "So how fair would it be for me to run away and risk _you_ getting hurt or worse?"

Rad thought it over and knew he couldn't win this argument. He handed Highwire's bow form over to her. "Just pull the string back and fire." He explained before changing his charm into its bow form and a pin on his back into a quiver of arrows, most of them steel with bronze tips and a few completely bronze ones. "Let's go."

Though Rad would never admit it aloud, he was getting bored and needed some monster to show up; when he got bored, he got very unbearable, more so than normal anyway.

When he and his small group came out of the forest, he didn't expect to find those two kids and the Autobot Minicons putting out a forest fire from using the water from the lake.

"No!" Both Rad and Sparta shouted as the trees burned.

Carlos looked over at them. "Rad!" he noticed the new Minicon. "Guess you found the Minicon! Who are they?" he asked looking at Sparta and Laelaps.

Rad momentarily forgot about the monster they were supposed to be looking out for and glared at the two kids. "Who did this?"

They both cringed. "It was a stray missile." Alexis said hastily.

Rad grunted and watched the flames as they finally went out. He heard Sparta fall to her knees and cry into her hands. He and Swindle tried to comfort her. "It's okay Mrs. S, they'll grow back." He said softly.

"So many of my friends…gone." Sparta sniffled.

"Swindle, watch Mrs. S." Rad instructed and the red Minicon nodded. Laelaps followed Rad as the blond walked over to the two kids. "Listen you two, I'm-" his sheepdog growled at the still there tree they had come through and Rad whirled around and saw a creature with a wild mane and golden fur. "Not you again." He muttered.

Both kids gasped and so did the Autobot Minicons. "What the?" Carlos exclaimed and Rad knew that he and Alexis were probably just seeing some rabid forest animal, though he also knew that the Autobot Minicons were seeing the actual creature.

The lion roared and Rad notched his bow. "Swindle, get Mrs. S over there!"

Swindle beeped in agreement and hauled Sparta off her feet and over to the Autobot-allied group.

Rad shot an arrow, but it bounced off the lion's fur. Though not very effective, it caused the lion to turn all its attention to him. Rad growled as it did and notched his bow again. "Come get it, fur ball!"


End file.
